Emo is literally short for "emotional" - think unhappy goth who thinks the world wants them to Die Die Die. Unfortunately, most people use the term for just about any display of negative emotion, so it's gotten skewed.

Brony - a male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A portmanteau of "bro" and "pony". They think they're extra-special because they're fans of a kids' cartoon. Not all of them are bad, but most of them think they're seriously entitled to fandom bowing at their feet because they're MANLY MEN who watch a cute little children's show...

I'd put a slightly different spin on those:

Teens (and it's almost always teens) who consider themselves "emo" aren't necessarily depressed, but generally take that "teenage angst" thing to the extreme. It's a subculture which glorifies suicide and "cutting" (a self-harming activity some people do, either with or without the intention of actually committing suicide). In my experience there are just as many emo guys as there are girls and the fashions usually present in similar ways - lots of black, unusually colored/styled hair (often also black), black painted nails for both genders. Self-identifying as "emo" is a risk sign for depression and suicide, but isn't necessarily an indicator - some kids just enjoy finding an identity.

"Bronies" are guys (teens or adults) who are fans of the show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," which is a re-make of the 1980's cartoons. It's actually a very good show and I'd recommend anyone who has Netflix to give it a try even if you don't have kids. I don't know where any of Liliane's "entitled" aspect comes from, honestly - several of my friends consider themselves bronies and it's mostly done in good fun. (There's a definite aspect of "I know I'm not the demographic for this show but I'm embracing it anyway and there's irony in that", but also they just like the show!)

I'd like to add that a good number of female fans of MLP:FiM are identifying as bronies as well. Mostly because "pegasisters" just doesn't sound right. I'm proud to be a brony, and it's actually helped with my anxiety. I carried around a stuffed pony at a convention and the random people who came up to talk to me about it were some of the nicest strangers I've ever had the chance to come across. One of the biggest things that I've learned from the brony subculture is spreading love and tolerance, often a bit forcefully. As in "I will love and tolerate the s**t out of you!"

Oh, wow, thanks!

My thinking of what emo is about was close. And a brony is a new one for me. But cool, like the saying goes, you learn something new every day! I guess I can consider myself to be somewhat a brony for I always enjoyed MLP and used to collect the little pony dolls. I still have one of each (pony/unicorn/pegasis).

I would not go so far as to associate emo kids with depression and cutting. That's just too armchair psychologist and kind of a dangerous assumption Emo is short for emotional ... it's really just melodramatic punk light and the kids who listen to it. Please don't ascribe medical issues to a genre of music and clothing, hey? I'm guessing that's not how you meant it, but it in black and white it looks that way. Listenging to Dashboard Confessional and dyeing your hair black does not turn one into a depressed cutter, nor does emo glorify that.

Logged

It's alright, man. I'm only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can. ~Gaslight Anthem

I would not go so far as to associate emo kids with depression and cutting. That's just too armchair psychologist and kind of a dangerous assumption Emo is short for emotional ... it's really just melodramatic punk light and the kids who listen to it. Please don't ascribe medical issues to a genre of music and clothing, hey? I'm guessing that's not how you meant it, but it in black and white it looks that way. Listenging to Dashboard Confessional and dyeing your hair black does not turn one into a depressed cutter, nor does emo glorify that.

You're right, hobish, that's not how I meant it at all. Reading back on that, I must have been awful tired. I'm not usually so snarky. I'm sorry!

Akin to Carotte's PEI question, I've seen posters us "Big Box Store" . . . I always assumed that they were referring to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware/home improvement type center.

However, in some posts it seems like the poster is talking more like a Walmart type store.

Where did the term "Big Box Store" come from and what is it's true meaning?

I've always interpreted "big box store" as a huge chain store that sells many different types of things under one roof, usually in a building that looks like a big box I'd include Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, etc. all as big box stores.

ETA: another qualification is how, like Wal-Mart, big box stores don't have a real stockroom - the extra stock is all out on the shelves.

Akin to Carotte's PEI question, I've seen posters us "Big Box Store" . . . I always assumed that they were referring to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware/home improvement type center.

However, in some posts it seems like the poster is talking more like a Walmart type store.

Where did the term "Big Box Store" come from and what is it's true meaning?

I've always interpreted "big box store" as a huge chain store that sells many different types of things under one roof, usually in a building that looks like a big box I'd include Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, etc. all as big box stores.

ETA: another qualification is how, like Wal-Mart, big box stores don't have a real stockroom - the extra stock is all out on the shelves.

I'd say the US stores must be very different from Canadian ones, then. Our back room holds about three or four semi trucks' worth of stock. At peak times we may have multiple containers in the back parking lot with a truck's worth of bikes, patio sets, or sale items in each one.

(Having said that, if you ask a salesperson if there are any in the back, they may automatically say no. Sometimes they can't move all that stuff to get the one item you want.)

Logged

You are only young once. After that you have to think up some other excuse.

Akin to Carotte's PEI question, I've seen posters us "Big Box Store" . . . I always assumed that they were referring to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware/home improvement type center.

However, in some posts it seems like the poster is talking more like a Walmart type store.

Where did the term "Big Box Store" come from and what is it's true meaning?

Here's Wikipedia's take on it: "Big-box store." These items from their list of "architectural characteristics" is a pretty good summary of what I associate with big-box stores:

Quote

Large, free-standing, rectangular, generally single-floor structure...The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot, sometimes referred to as a "sea of asphalt."...Floor space several times greater than traditional retailers in the sector, providing for a large amount of merchandise

In addition, the stores I think of as "big box stores" generally have a standard model for the chain and each individual store deviates as little as possible from the chain standard. They try to make the individual sites conform to their standard rather than adapting the individual store to its own surroundings/community. In my mind, the typical big box store is a giant rectangular box-shaped building, identical to every other store in the chain (often down to the internal layout), plopped down in the middle of a large lot that's graded completely flat and paved into a parking lot. Any deviations from the chain's standard cookie-cutter store and parking lot are the bare minimum required to meet local regulations.

Here's Wikipedia's take on it: "Big-box store." These items from their list of "architectural characteristics" is a pretty good summary of what I associate with big-box stores:

Quote

Large, free-standing, rectangular, generally single-floor structure...The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot, sometimes referred to as a "sea of asphalt."...Floor space several times greater than traditional retailers in the sector, providing for a large amount of merchandise

In addition, the stores I think of as "big box stores" generally have a standard model for the chain and each individual store deviates as little as possible from the chain standard. They try to make the individual sites conform to their standard rather than adapting the individual store to its own surroundings/community. In my mind, the typical big box store is a giant rectangular box-shaped building, identical to every other store in the chain (often down to the internal layout), plopped down in the middle of a large lot that's graded completely flat and paved into a parking lot. Any deviations from the chain's standard cookie-cutter store and parking lot are the bare minimum required to meet local regulations.

My personal definition for big box stores is this: You need to do maintenance on your car, flea dip your cat, throw a dinner party AND a birthday party (including get the gift for the latter), pick up a movie for the weekend, get some ointment for that rash you should really have checked out, get some socks, and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors... but you only want to make one stop.

I am currently using a TV as a computer monitor. I plugged in my headphone/mic set into the computer. I can use the microphone just fine but the sound will only play through the TV. The TV is plugged into the tower using an HDMI cable. I am using Windows 8. How can I get the sound to play through the headphones instead of the TV?

HDMI by default does audio and video (High Definition Media Input) but you can probably, in the sound settings, uncheck the Audio through HDMI. Husband (IT tech) recommends googling 'turn off HDMI audio in Windows 8' and you'll find screenshots of how to do that. (I use OSX and Husband mainly uses W7)

Thank you! I know what HDMI is but I didn't know you could turn off just the audio; I figured it was all integrated and that I would be out of luck in that department. I shall give it a try.

Depending on the TV, there might be other options too. I know with my mom's TV, the HDMI 1 port also comes with places to plug in audio cables. I have no idea why, all I know is that they have them, and if her cable box is plugged in with HDMI into HDMI 1 she'll need it to get audio, but if the cable box is plugged into HDMI 2 or 3 port and the Blu-Ray player is plugged into HDMI 1, none of them need audio cables. But if the Blu-Ray player is plugged anywhere else, the whole system comes falling down.

It's a truly bizarre system. Even my boyfriend, tech genius that he is, can't figure it out. But we've managed to get it to work.

What would an apartment manager mean when they say "you will still need to register your mail with the [city] post office"? In Vermont, if it makes a difference. They were confirming that there were mailboxes at the complex and that I had the correct mailing address (including apt number).

I mean, aside from filing a change of address when I move to forward the mail from my current house to the new apartment, is there another step? Iíve never had to do anything else.